My Bio
Abraham is community advocate, an educator and an urban planner who wants to ensure West Ashley and the city thrive in rapidly changing circumstances. He has worked in communities across the region on issues related to growth, transportation and housing to create more livable neighborhoods.
Abraham envisions a community where we have more places to gather, where we can strengthen the connections between our various neighborhoods and foster sustainable growth for our region. gather. connect. grow
Qualifications
- 10+ years as an educator in Charleston County School District and community advocate in nonprofit
- 20+ years working side by side with food and beverage industry workers- he will support their needs
- Professional community planner with much of his work focused on growth issues like traffic, zoning, transit, and livability
- Served on Stormwater Standards Task Force to prevent flooding in new development
- Participated in Charleston Dutch Dialogues to find solutions to flooding
- Participated in Charleston Zoning Code Rewrite Community Advisory Panel to bring our code to modern standards that would not allow development where it does not belong
- Served on Reality Check 2.0 Advisory Committee to bring regional leaders together for collaborative solutions to housing affordability, greenspace preservation, and traffic congestion
- B.S. Human Services, Springfield College
- M.A. Teaching, College of Charleston
- Master of Resilient Urban Design, Clemson University
https://donorbox.org/ac-for-council
My Key Issues
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is not just pavement and pipes. It’s the integration of many systems. Roads determine how we interact with our small businesses and schools. Our waterways can be sources of protection and recreation. I believe we must maximize the infrastructure we already have as a strategy to make our communities work more efficiently, create affordability and safety in our communities.
Resilience
To create resilient communities, we must consider all the systems of our community as a unit. We must be mindful of how our decisions affect the waterways while also thinking about our community’s essential assets like grocery, daycare, healthcare, parks, public transportation and our churches. I believe we must connect the people to what is essential for long term resilience.
Advancing Our Vision
A vision doesn’t happen on its own. The vision for our city comes to life through regional coordination. It happens with a proactive stance on the challenges of area growth. We must be active in regional discussions, we must lead them to make our goals clear. So that when change happens, we are prepared.
Affordable and Attainable Housing
I support providing expedited review services for small, local developers to streamline development review and assist with naturally occurring affordability. I also think that the city could identify certain infill sites across the city that would be eligible for these policies. There are also programs across the nation that provide pre approved housing designs for local developers who can not afford the expense of building design. We need to provide tools so that locals can take more initiative in the provision of housing in their own neighborhoods. Furthermore, home repair programs could support existing residents in older homes, where much of our naturally occurring affordability remains.
Send Me a Message
Have questions or suggestions? I would love to hear from you!